92 Teen Text Terms Decoded for Confused Parents

Not so long ago, most teenagers’ text messages read to other people like a jumble of seemingly disconnected letters, numbers, and odd punctuation. Using a combination of shortened words, creative spellings, and a liberal sprinkling of unusual punctuation, teen text message mavens created their own form of language — so-called text speak (a term itself boiled down to “txtspk”).

These days, teens are texting more than ever, but the advent of QWERTY smartphone keyboards, predictive text, autocorrect, and the removal of message character limits should allow young social butterflies the opportunity to type full, real words. However, the confusing shorthand continues to live on anyway. With the help of Twitter, the microblogging site that still limits each post to a mere 140 characters, abbreviated slang appears to be here to stay.

To help you in your quest to decode your kids’ space-constrained text babble, we’ve compiled a list of popular terms and abbreviations. Don’t be surprised if you see variations when it comes to capitalization or style; it’s common for some kids to prefer all caps to lowercase or even changing capitalization, whether at the beginning or middle of a message.

These 92 terms are among the most popular, but know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

FFFollow Friday (Follow Friday is a recurring topic on Twitter. Each week, users post lists of people that they think others should followusing the #FF or #FollowFriday hashtag.)

FTL For the loss / For the lose

FTW For the win

FWB Friends with benefits

FWIW For what it’s worth

FYEO For your eyes only

FYI For your information

GLHF Good luck, have fun

GR8 Great

HAK Hugs and kisses

HAND Have a nice day

HT or H/T Hat tip or heard through (usually referencing news or an informative link)

HTH Hope this helps / Happy to help

IANAL I am not a lawyer

IDK I don’t know

IIRC If I remember correctly

IKR I know, right?

ILY / ILU I love you

IMHO In my honest opinion / In my humble opinion

IMO In my opinion

IRL In real life

IU2U It’s up to you

IYKWIM If you know what I mean

J/K Just kidding

J4F Just for fun

JIC Just in case

JSYK Just so you know

K or KK Okay

LMBO Laughing my butt off

LMK Let me know

LOL Laughing out loud

MMMusic Monday. Another recurring Twitter topic. In this case, users post a song or two that will get your week off to a better start.

MSM Mainstream media

NAGI Not a good idea

NM Never mind

NMU Not much, you?

NP No problem or Now playing (as in “My MP3 stream is now playing LMFAO’s Party Rock.)

NSFW Not safe for work. If this is attached to a link, you’re strongly advised not to check it out while in the workplace or any other venue where inappropriate content would be, well, inappropriate.

NSFL Not safe for life. Usually a humorous disclaimer that something formerly innocent is going to be irreparably sullied if you click the link.

NTS Note to self

OH Overheard

OMG Oh my God

ORLY Oh, really?

PAW Parents are watching

PLS or PLZ Please

PPL People

PTB Please text back

QQ Crying. Rather than an abbreviation, this is an emoticon, a picture created in text. The tails of the capital Q form tears, while the circles are the eyes. Saying “QQ” aloud also can mimic the “boo hoo” of someone who’s upset. Usually used sarcastically or contemptuously.

RAK Random act of kindness

RL Real life

ROFL Rolling on the floor laughing

RTRetweet. Similar to forwarding an email, Twitter lets you echo other people’s tweets for your own followers to read. In some cases, folks will ask for something they’ve said to be amplified by saying “Please RT” or “PLS RT.”

RUOK Are you okay? In Australia, #RUOK is a regularly trending topic, following a government initiative called RUOK Day, which raises awareness of mental health issues on social networking sites.